Alan K. Simpson is one of America's favorite political pugilists. A lawyer, legislator, and devout Episcopalian, during his four decades in national politics, Simpson has learned to take a political punch as much as he's learned to throw one.

As we prepare to choose a new president, we should look closely at the candidates' approach to our constitutional culture. It will tell us much more than the issue papers and campaign promises that are mainstays of electoral strategies.

Few of my fellow Obama supporters understand what's happening outside of their own circle of friends and families. But Democrats can't win an election by thinking that all voters have the information that we have.